in an ideal position in the 2018 NFL Draft when it was their turn to pick at No. 24. The Panthers wanted a dynamic wide receiver and as luck would have it Fozzy Whittaker Color Rush Jersey , none of the 23 previous selections played that position. Carolina would be able to pick the player they evaluated to be the top wide receiver in the entire draft. They went with Maryland’s D.J. Moore. Moore then had a slow start to his NFL career. In his first three games he registered just two receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed the ball two times for 10 yards. The Panthers had a Week 4 bye and since that time D.J. Moore has shown why he was the first wide receiver selected in the 2018 draft. Per Pro Football Reference, Between Week 5 and Week 12 Moore has led all rookie wide receivers in receptions (33), yards (482), catch percentage (84.6%), and yards per target (12.4). Rookie WRs Weeks 5-12 (min 10 recs)PlayerTmGamesTgtRecYdsCtch%Y/TgtPlayerTmGamesTgtRecYdsCtch%Y/TgtPro Football ReferencePro Football Focus recently provided some pretty incredible statistics which illustrate just how good Moore was between Week 5 and Week 11 (so this excludes his Week 12 performance against the Seattle Seahawks with eight receptions on nine targets for 91 yards):Just let that sink in for a moment: Between Weeks 5 and 11, D.J. Moore led the NFL in yards after catch per reception, led the NFL in yards after contact per reception, and ranked fourth in forced missed tackles per reception!Now, I’m purposefully going back to Week 5 for these stats because I’m a Panthers homer and would prefer to disregard everything that happened over the first month of the NFL season when discussing D.J. Moore. When looking at the entire season, Moore’s 565 receiving yards ranks second among rookie receivers behind the Atlanta Falcons Calvin Ridley with 625 yards. However, Ridley plays for a pass-happy Falcons team and has been targeted 66 times to just 48 targets for Moore. It’s a volume thing. D.J. Moore averages 11.8 yards per target so if he had Calvin Ridley’s 66 targets he would be sitting at 779 yards on the season and leading all rookies by a country mile. The difference between Ridley and Moore comes down to team offensive style (the Falcons are No. 5 in pass attempts, the Panthers are No. 23) Rashaan Gaulden Jersey , not individual productivity. Ultimately, D.J. Moore is looking like a stud. Throw in Curtis Samuel and Christian McCaffrey and the Panthers have a trio of young, explosive playmakers who are only getting better. While the Carolina Panthers 2018 season is caving in on itself and will likely be remembered as a disappointing season of missed opportunities, I’d give the selection of D.J. Moore a giant thumbs up. Hello. My name is Erik Sommers, and I am a realist. I’m not one to irrationally believe or disbelieve in anything at all. In matters of real concern, I won’t commit one way or another without an abundance of data proving or disproving my statements, and I think for any one person’s words to be taken seriously, they shouldn’t either.The Carolina Panthers have long been an exception to this.Since drafting Cam Newton, I have believed that the Panthers are capable of beating any given team on any given day of the week. I’ll hear nothing of your historical data analysis, and your home vs. away splits, or all the reasons you think we are deficient in one area that is especially crippling against our next opponent. In my head, the Panthers are going to win the football game. It may not be pretty Thomas Davis Color Rush Jersey , it may be unconventional, and it almost certainly will be maddeningly closer than it ought to be... but dammit, they are going to win.This may come as a surprise to some of you that only know me as an editor on this blog, where I tend to keep most of my writing in check and as objective as possible. I do this, because I feel that all of you deserve an honest analysis of everything, whether that be our team’s offensive line situation from week to week, or how I feel about our pass rush, present and future. When I present you information, I think it is important to state the situation how it is as best as I can in a realm so steeply opinion-based as professional football journalism. I want you to be able to take that information and apply it to your own fandom as you see fit.But on gameday, I am just as big a Panthers fanatic as anyone. I yell at players on TV about what they should have done. I scream at officials that can’t hear me. I suddenly become religious and ask for divine intervention in moments that any deity couldn’t give two nickels about. I am completely unruly at games, both home and away. I cuss on Twitter, in both jubilation and humiliation https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com ... yne-Jersey , with a regularity that would probably make my mother blush if she knew how to operate social media. The Panthers losing used to affect my entire day negatively, something I’ve learned to get better about for the sake of my friends and family, but it is still a heavy emotion I have to deal with. I care a lot about this team’s success, without a doubt.I do this, and throw my entire life philosophy to the wind, because the Carolina Panthers and their NFL brethren have proven time and time again that rationality and reason have no place here. This is a league where anyone can beat anyone on any given matchup, and I have certainly seen much more far fetched winning scenarios come to pass than the Panthers beating the Steelers at Pittsburgh in primetime. This one isn’t far flung for me at all, really. I think we match up with them quite well given what I have seen over the past few weeks. Believe, because this was a thing that happened on an actual NFL football field.espn.comRemember, in the past three weeks, we have proved the following true:This team can make massive comebacks and win in hostile environments.This team can score lots of points on even the league’s best defense.This team can score just as readily as the league’s best offense and win a shootout.Why then, could they not topple any team in the league? Is it because we’re playing the Steelers and people just assume they will win any given game? Why do you think that is?Because their fans believe they will win every game. They honestly believe that https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com ... sen-Jersey , and that attitude affects all coverage of that team. They’ve had a lot of success over the years and have earned that attitude, but the Panthers have not been without their victories as well. We may still not have a Super Bowl ring, but really our franchise is young and right now is experiencing some of its best years. It’s high time that this entire fan base stop preparing itself for losing, and start believe they will win ever game they play, like they nearly did in 2015. It is time to change the culture.The players sure as hell believe that. If their “drip” levels were any higher, we’d have to shut down the entire locker room due to water damage. It’s time to follow their leads as fans, because that is what being a fan is all about. Believe we will win. Every time. Throw caution to the wind, and enjoy the ride.KEEP POUNDING.